Food For All

Food for All Provides Critical Service at Critical Time

Food For All started in 2014, but its roots stretch back to the creation of the St Margaret’s farm in the Vinegar Flats neighborhood in 2002. While Food For All no longer has a farm, we have branched out over the years with a wide array of programming that involves collaboration with other Catholic Charities programs and various community partners in Spokane County and beyond to provide locally produced, healthy food to those who need it most.

With some of our federal assistance cut over the last few months, the ability to carry out our mission is more challenging – but no less important!

Here are some key FFA highlights!

We offer where people shop:

• We provide technical assistance for the SNAP Market Match program to over two dozen  farmers markets in Eastern and Central Washington in such towns like Tonasket, Pasco, Yakima, Newport, Chelan, Chewelah, etc. where thousands of SNAP shoppers received a 1:1 match for using their SNAP benefits at farmers markets.

• We administer the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program in Spokane County. In 2025, 2,390 seniors received $80 benefits cards to buy fruit, vegetables and honey at farmers markets. An additional 62 seniors received a total of $80 each in fruits and vegetables with their Meals on Wheels deliveries over a ten-week period this summer.

• Hundreds of kids were engaged in fun educational activities at seven farmers markets through the KERNEL program (Kids Eating Right-Nutrition and Exercise for Life). They received $2 in KERNEL cash to spend on fruit and vegetables with each engagement.

• Our Farm to Food Pantry deliveries of produce and proteins to twelve food pantries, including pantries outside Spokane like the Greenhouse Community Center in Deer Park and Cleone’s Closet in Airway Heights, with new deliveries to Care and Share in Davenport. We deliver bison meat to the American Indian Community Center. We partner with El Mercadito, a program of Latinos en Spokane, for food distribution. We deliver plants from our greenhouse to several pantries for distribution in the spring.

  
  

We offer programming where people live:

• In the fall of 2023, we piloted the After School Brain Fuel program and expanded to two more sites (Mother Theresa Haven, Summit View Apts, Pope Francis Haven) with potential expansion in 2026. After School Brain Fuel provides an opportunity for kids on a monthly basis to hangout in a safe place to develop community, do fun activities, and learn how to make a healthy snack. Nearly 70 kids are served by these activities annually.

• We initiated a year-round Meals program in the fall of 2024 that has expanded to 22 sites (15 CCEW sites). We serve a healthy lunch at one site each day on a rotating basis. In 2025, nearly 500 people will be served over 2000 meals.

• At least 1000 people were served at 25 sites in 2025 by our Farm to Housing programming. This includes produce delivery and access to nutritional information, recipes, and tips on produce storage. We also supply plants from our greenhouse and occasional garden education activities.

We offer programming where kids learn:

• Farm to Early Care and Education & Harvest of the Month activities are offered to seventeen Head Start and ECEAP programs. Our support includes assistance with ordering and coordinating delivery of healthy, local foods. Harvest of the Month focuses on one vegetable or fruit that kids sample with a newsletter to families with information about that product and the farm that produced it. Roughly 1000 students are served by these activities on an annual basis.

• In our greenhouse we grow over 3,000 plants annually that we deliver to housing sites, early learning centers, and food pantries. We share our greenhouse with a local farm (Dogwild Farm) and River City Youth. With River City Youth, we supported educational opportunities in the greenhouse for their teen program participants.

If you have any questions about this amazing program, please reach out to Jesse Hansen, Director of Food For All!